


Remus' Furry Little Problem

by aievans



Series: Sentinels of Hogwarts [2]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter - Marauders
Genre: Marauders era, Secrets, Werewolf, first year, lycanthropy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-18 13:14:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9386828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aievans/pseuds/aievans
Summary: It's the Marauder's first year at Hogwarts, and Remus is going back home every month - or at least that's what he tells his roommates.  After a couple times, James and Sirius aren't convinced and they are determined to know the truth.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little drabble I wrote for my Remus roleplay account on instagram ( @fullmccny ). It's not much, but I hope you enjoy. It also takes place in the Marauder's universe that I'm writing my long fic in, so I'll put it in that series.

Remus knew the lie was a loosely held one. It was what they had come up with over the summer when Professor Dumbledore visited them and told them that Remus could attend Hogwarts under certain conditions. Telling his dormmates that he went home every month to visit his sick mother, well he didn't think it was working well. The first couple times, the boys had nodded and wished him and his mother well. Then, about November, James and Sirius started sharing a look whenever it was brought up. And it was brought up more. 'So are you going to visit your mother again?' 'What day did you say you were going? The fifteenth? No? But isn't the seventeenth a Monday?' Everytime there was a look between the two of them, and eventually between Peter as well. It set Remus' skin on edge. What if they knew? What if they found out? What would happen to him? They slept in the same room as him, and if they thought him a monster ... well that wouldn't be good.

 

First year found Remus in Professor McGonagall's office a lot. She wanted to see him after every change and she helped him personally catch up on homework and classwork that he'd missed. November, however, found him in it more than often. Every time he went in, she had chocolate biscuits waiting for him and reassurance that his fellow dormmates had no idea what he was and that they were just curious about him and his monthly trips. Every time he walked away from her office, he felt a little more relieved and relaxed. Something about her strictness, her sureness, eased his mind. Yet they still asked and questioned him about it. ⠀

 

When Remus saw the book on Sirius's side table, he thought he might break right there. What kind of break he might have had, he still doesn't know, but the whole world seemed to slow around him when he saw it. It was from the restricted section, Remus knew because he had gotten permission from Dumbledore himself to check it out in September. 'Werewolves Among Wizards'. Remus had read it to see what someone with no connection to werewolves thought. There were points they had right, and points that made Remus' skin crawl. Yet there it was, sitting on Sirius' bedside table. He bolted out of the room, passing the others on the staircase. He didn't go to McGonagall though. He didn't want to get Sirius in trouble for having the book. Instead, he paced up and down empty corridors for hours until he snuck back into the dormitory after the others had fallen asleep.

 

 The November full moon was a bad one. Remus woke up on the Shrieking Shacks floor burning with pain. Madame Pomfrey had to levitate him up to the hospital wing in the early morning, and Remus considered it lucky that they hadn't been seen. He barely got in the potions she had him drink before he passed out. When he woke up, it was almost dinner time and Madame Pomfrey was arguing that she wanted him to stay overnight.

 

"I'm alright, I promise. I've had worse changes. Please, I just don't want any questions to be asked." That was how Remus got out of it. The last line sent Madame Pomfrey into a sympathetic look and she settled for keeping him until just before curfew.

 

Remus thought it might save him from whatever questions the other Gryffindor boys might have. He was envious of Frank Longbottom who had someone managed to snag the single room for Gryffindor first years. Why he hadn't been allowed that room, Remus still didn't know. He just hoped that the late hour would keep the others at bay. His hope was misplaced. As soon as he walked in, Sirius was in front of him. He was bounding like an oversized puppy, chatting so fast that Remus couldn't fully comprehend what was happening. Suddenly James was pulling him back.

 

"Sirius, calm down. Look at him. He's a mess. Give him some air, won't ya?" James said. Remus gave James the best smile he could, moving toward his bed on the far side of the room. He could feel all their eyes on him, and he hated it. Why couldn't they just ignore him, let him fade into the background? If he had known the Marauders like he knew them later on in life, he would know that they would never settle for him fading away.

 

Remus had barely sat down on his bed, searching his trunk for his warmest pajama bottoms when the other three were in front of him again. He sighed, snapping his trunk lid closed and putting his clothes next to him. "I'm really rather tired, and would like to sleep. Whatever it is - I'm sure it can wait until morning," Remus said.

 

"He's right, it probably ca-" Peter started, only to be cut off by Sirius.

 

"We know!" Sirius looked slightly surprised by his own outburst and James hit him on the back of the head.

 

"Subtle, Sirius, subtle!" James said.

 

"I don't understand. You know what?" Remus asked.

 

James sighed, pushing his glasses up. "Every month you go to visit your sick mom. Exactly the same amount of time between each visit, nevermind what day it is. Every time you come back looking like you got beat up," James started.

 

"We were worried, you see. You didn't look good, and we didn't want you to be hurting," Peter chimed in.

 

"So we paid more attention to what days you were gone," Sirius said. "And they matched perfectly with - with full moons. So we did more research."

 

The book. Of course that was why Sirius had the damn werewolf book. They were seeing if he was what they actually thought he was. "

 

The scars, the amber eyes, the full moons, the broken bones, the love for steak on the redder side," James prattled off. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

 

Remus sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. He didn't know what to feel. Was he angry? Sad? Scared? Everything was muddling together and all he wanted to do was sleep. Sleep was all he wanted, not some interrogation. "So what?" Remus snapped, his eyes narrowed at the boys. "You going to run off and tell the school? Tell your parents? You share a room with a nasty monster, a werewolf who will probably kill you in your sleep? You going to go to Dumbledore and ask for a room change, ask to have me kicked out?"

 

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked. He bounced onto Remus's bed, sitting cross legged beside him. "It's bloody amazing! It's so cool! I mean, a werewolf! How much of it's true? I assume some of what the books say aren't true, since a lot of them say you're going to eat us or turn us or that you have a nasty temper that can't be controlled when really you have more patients than Jamesie, which is impressive-"

 

"Sirius, shut up," James said, smacking Sirius again.

 

Remus looked between them all. From Sirius, who was someone giddy, to James, who had the same smile Madame Pomfrey did a lot of the time, to Peter, who looked as though they had been told that Severus Snape had oily hair, not that his dormmate was a werewolf.

 

"Wait - you guys - don't care?" Remus asked. Sirius laughed, James looked confused, and Peter was the one to speak.

 

"Course not. I mean, we care but not like that. We looked all this up 'cause we were worried about you turning up with scrapes and bruises and gashes every month."

 

Remus felt like he was going to cry. In fact, he was sure that he felt wet drops rolling down his cheeks. He didn't understand. No one, no one had never not cared. Even Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey, despite their compassion, still looked at him like he had something dangerous inside him. Yet here he was, being called cool.

 

"Get some sleep, Remus," James said, his voice gone soft. "I'm sure Sirius is going to bother you with questions all tomorrow."


End file.
